Marker and side road to Lord Gamo (Gamoh) Ujisato's gravesite. Near Aizu-Wakamatsu City Hall. Gamo Ujisato (1556-1595) was a feudal lord from Hino, Shiga Pref. He built Tsurugajo Castle and named the town Wakamatsu, after a place in his hometown.

Entrance to Iimoriyama Hill, site of the Byakkotai "White Tiger" Battalion gravesite. In 1868, a unit of teenage warriors called Byakkotai (White Tiger Battalion) fought against the Emperor-backed Imperial forces encroaching their domain of Aizu

Aizu-Wakamatsu Station 会津若松駅

Ujisato was married to Oda Nobunaga's second daughter Fuyuhime. He died at age 40. One theory says that he was poisoned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Entrance to Lord Gamo Ujisato's gravesite within Kotokuji temple in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima..

The Byakkotai were outnumbered and forced to retreat. Twenty of them escaped to Iimoriyama Hill where they saw what looked liked a burning Tsurugajo Castle. Photo: Pay a small fee to take the escalator up the hill. Or climb up the steps for free.

Aizu-Wakamatsu Station 会津若松駅

Entrance doors to Lord Gamo Ujisato's gravesite within Kotokuji temple which is a Zen temple of the Rinzai Sect.

In despair, the boys decided to kill themselves rather than die in the hands of the enemy. Photo: Escalator to go up Iimoriyama Hill.

Family crest on door. (Not the Gamo crest.)

Escalator to go up Iimoriyama Hill. Their tombstones are on this hill near where they killed themselves. Their story has become legend.

Aizu-Wakamatsu Station at twilight

Grounds of Lord Gamo Ujisato's gravesite within Kotokuji temple. Since Ujisato was a Christian lord, it is ironic that he be buried in a Buddhist temple in Kyoto and Aizu-Wakamatsu.

Byakkotai Gravesite. It is on a flat area which also has several other Byakkotai monuments including those from other countries.

Aizu-Wakamatsu Station

Approach to the Byakkotai gravesite.

Byakkotai statue at Aizu-Wakamatsu Station

Poem monument reads 限りあれば吹かねど花は散るものを心短き春の山風

Entrance to pedestrian underpass in front of Aizu-Wakamatsu Station

Path to Lord Gamo Ujisato's gravesite

Graves of the 19 teenage Byakkotai warriors who killed themselves with their own swords.

Entrance to pedestrian underpass in front of Aizu-Wakamatsu Station with Byakkotai (White tiger) painting

Hi-color town bus, very convenient and cheap (500 yen for a day pass) to reach the city's major sights. It runs every 30 min. or so. ハイカラさん

Lord Gamo Ujisato's grave.

Byakkotai Graves

Lord Gamo Ujisato's grave. This is a secondary grave, where his hair is buried. His main grave is at a temple in Kyoto where he died at age 40.

Hi-color town bus stop

Byakkotai Graves

Byakkotai gravestones. Each one shows the name, age, and method of death called "jijin" (died with one's own sword 自刃).

"Akabei" town bus which goes in the opposite direction of the Hi-color town bus. The same day pass can be used for both buses. あかべぇ

The tombstone has five segments each with a kanji character. 五輪塔

Inside the Akabei town bus.

Explanation of the kanji characters on the tombstone. From top to bottom, the characters are for "Sky, wind, fire, water, and earth."

This has become a national shrine, almost as important as Sengakuji where the 47 masterless samurai are buried.

Bus stop

Aizu-Wakamatsu City Hall 会津若松市役所

Portrait of Lord Gamo Ujisato

Shopping street

Kotokuji temple

Aizu-Wakamatsu manhole

Fukushima Prefectural Museum

On the right side are more gravestones. These are 31 Byakkotai members who died in battle. 戦死

Sculpture near the Fukushima Prefectural Museum

Tombs of those Byakkotai who died in action.

Tombs of those Byakkotai who died in action.

Their names, age, and "senshi" 戦死 (died in battle) are engraved on the stones.

Hand-painted candles

Monument for teenage samurai who died in battle.

Names of Byakkotai members, all 14 to 17 years old.

On the left of the gravestones, there is a monument for a poem composed by Lord Matsudaira Katamori, the last Aizu lord and whom the Byakkotai died for. 幾人の 涙は石にそそぐとも その名は世々に 朽じとぞ思う幾人の 涙は石にそそぐとも その名は世々に 朽じとぞ思う
Ikutari no namida wa ishi ni sosogu tomo sono na wa yoyo ni kuji to zo omou
"No matter how many people pour their tears on these stones, these names will never fade from the world."

A short walk away is the grave of Iinuma Sadakichi, the only Byakkotai survivor who had slit himself, but was rescued by a villager passing by when everyone else had killed themselves.

Grave of Iinuma Sadakichi, the only Byakkotai warrior who survived and told the story of this valiant teenage group.

Grave of Iinuma Sadakichi (Sadao) (1854-1931). His grave was built here in 1957 for the 90th anniversary of the Byakkotai's demise. 飯沼貞吉

About Iinuma Sadakichi (later changed his first name to Sadao)

Slope where they committed seppuku (hara-kiri). 自刃の地

Site where they committed seppuku (hara-kiri). 自刃の地

A recent addition is this statue of a teenage samurai looking at Wakamatsu Castle.

Sazaedo, a unique wooden, hexagonal structure which you will see when coming down from Iimoriyama.

Sazaedo

Sazaedo

Sazaedo

Byakkotai souvenirs

JR Fukushima Station on the west side (Nishi-guchi).

Monument on the west side of Fukushima Station. The shinkansen train can be seen.

JR Fukushima Station on the east side (Higashi-guchi).

Inside JR Fukushima Station.

Inside JR Fukushima Station.

Inside JR Fukushima Station. Sample fireworks balls.

Toward the west exit the tourist info office on the left. Pick up pamphlets and maps.

Entrance to the shinkansen tracks.

JR Fukushima Station shinkansen platform.

JR Fukushima Station shinkansen platform.

JR Fukushima Station with shinkansen approaching.

East exit of JR Fukushima Station has a statue of Haiku poet Matsuo Basho and his traveling companion Sora.

Around Aug. 7, the Tanabata Matsuri Star Festival is held along Paseo Road, a short walk from the east side of Fukushima Station.

Paseo Road Tanabata Matsuri, Fukushima

Poster for Bunka-dori Tanabata Matsuri.

Paseo Road also intersects with Bunka-dori road which also has its own Tanabata Matsuri with bamboo branches hung with wishes.

Bunka-dori road Tanabata Matsuri

Children's wishes for Tanabata Matsuri on Bunka-dori Road.

Fukushima manhole. I think it's waraji straw sandals.

On the west side of Fukushima Station is a tall building called Corasse Fukushima. The ground floor has the Fukushima Tourism and Product Center selling products of Fukushima.

Inside the shop, you can find the best products of Fukushima, including edibles.

Corasse Fukushima also has a lookout deck on the top 12th floor. コラッセふくしま

Nice views all around.

View of Fukushima Station's east side.

View of Fukushima Station's east side.

Clear view of Mt. Shinobuyama 信夫山

Held on the first Fri. and Sat. of Aug., the Fukushima Waraji Matsuri is mainly an evening parade of dancers. During Aug. 7-8, 2009, the 40th Fukushima Waraji Festival was held. I saw it on the second day.

"Waraji" means straw sandals. In central Fukushima city, Ashio Shrine (足尾神社) at a mountain called Shinobu-yama (信夫山) has Japan's largest waraji at 12 meters long and weighing 2 tons.

The giant waraji sandal is an offering for healthy legs/feet. On the first day of the festival (which I missed in 2009), they carry this giant waraji to the festival grounds along Route 13. Here it is displayed at the intersection.

Closeup of the giant waraji.

Ekimae-dori street leading to Fukushima Station is closed to traffic.

On Aug. 8, 2009 at 12:30 pm, they held the 1st Waraji Day Dance Contest on Ekimae-dori. (わらじDayダンス選手権)

For a few hours, numerous dance groups performed in a contest. They even had a hula troupe dance, to my delight as I'm from Hawaii.

Notice anything unusual about these hula dancers?

Look at their footwear. They are wearing a pair of waraji straw sandals.

The giant golden waraji was used to open the waraji races on the second day of the festival.

On Aug. 8, 2009 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, the second day of the festival, they held waraji races along Route 13 (Shinobu-dori).

Groups of children, women, etc., were to pull this large waraji on wheels on the 300-meter long race course along Route 13. A pair of large waraji were raced down the road. Then raced back by another pair of racers.

Waraji race at Fukushima Waraji Matsuri Festival. Each race team had to have 10 members. Also see my YouTube video here.

After the waraji races, they also had taiko float races where people pulled/pushed a taiko float in a race.

Finally at 7:30 pm, the main event called Dancing Soda Night started along Route 13 and Ekimae-dori.